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Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism, Part One – “The Rise”

*Answer the questions below. Was there something that you did not understand, something

you’d like to know more about, or a comment you’d like to make? Pose your question or

make a comment at the end of each section.

Part One: Robert Owen and Utopian Socialism

1) What were working conditions like in the early 19th century?

2) How was life different if you were a worker versus a factory owner like Robert Owen?

3) Why do you think Owen came to America to create his utopian community?

4) What did Owen believe caused society’s problems and why?

5) Why do you think New Harmony failed?

6) What institutions did Owen create that continue to influence how we think about work and the

workplace?

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YOUR QUESTION/COMMENT:

Part Two: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - Birth of a Manifesto

7) What did Marx and Engels believe was the problem with the capitalist system?

8) How did they think those problems could be alleviated (lessened)?

9) Why did they believe revolution was inevitable?

10) Why do you think Marxism was attractive to labor movements across Europe?

11) What does the phrase, “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” mean?

12) How did the relationship between Marx and Engels and their respective backgrounds make the creation of the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital possible?

13) How do you think history might have been different if Marx and Engels had not met?

YOUR QUESTION/COMMENT:

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Part Three: Eduard Bernstein and a Crisis of Faith

14) What changed between the time when Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto and the time

that Bernstein was writing?

15) What is “revisionism”?

16) Do you think social change comes in stages or suddenly through revolution? Explain.

17) Can economies share aspects of both Capitalism and Socialism? Explain why or why not.

YOUR QUESTION/COMMENT: